Report: VoIP Market on The Upswing

Sales of next-generation voice and IP systems are sizzling, following a lackluster first quarter.

Voice over IP service providers have something more to remind them of summer than sand in their pockets: Increased revenues and a strong demand for next-generation voice services.

Revenues generated by next-generation voice and intelligent IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) equipment is expected to double through 2009, rising from roughly $2.5 billion last year to $5.8 billion, according to the latest Infonetics Research report.

Overall, the IP voice market is up about 6 percent in the second quarter of 2006, recovering from a similar decline in the first quarter of the year before, noted Infonetics.

Shipments of IP telephones are also on the upswing, increasing about 17 percent in Q2, or roughly 2.1 million shipments, noted the report.

Infonetics said in an earlier report that about $120 billion will be spent on VoIP services in North America, Europe and Asia over the next few years.

Roughly half of the revenues flowing from North America will come from residential customers.

The surge in IP telephony demand from both consumers and business users is music to the ears of companies such Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks, since they write the equipment tunes that make the whole industry sing.

Earlier this year, Cisco introduced a Unified Communications system and strategy that combines several products to deliver mixed and matched communications capabilities, including IP-based telephony.

The system is being used by C.J. Hughes Construction, a construction company in West Virginia, and JJ Food Service Ltd., based in the U.K.